Part two!

I'm stunned by the number of views. I'm extremely flattered. Thanks for all the follows, favorites and comments. I greatly appreciate it. It's always encouraging to receive feedback of any kind.

Enjoy!

While Spencer, Aria and Hanna disappeared outside immediately after thanking the chef for dinner, Alison and Emily politely offered to help with the dishes. Mrs. Fields declined their assistance sweetly and suggested they go join their friends. Instead of following their friends onto Emily's front porch, Emily led Ali up to her room. She could sense that Alison wanted to talk. As they stepped into the brunette's bedroom, the blonde closed the door quickly behind them and demanded, "Tell me what's going on with you and Hanna."

"Ali, don't do that," Emily retorted gently. Her arms knotted across her chest. While Emily admired her friend's confidence, she detested being bullied into revealing information. She wasn't the shy, quiet Emily that Ali had left behind.

Noticing the brunette's defensive stance, Alison sighed and pried the girl's arms from across her chest. As Emily's arms relaxed within her grasp, she apologized, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I just want to know what's going on. We can't keep secrets. They—"

"Keep us close?" Emily mocked with a light tone.

"No," Alison admitted. "They don't. They never did."

Emily sank down on the edge of her bed and said, "We are all very aware of that fact." Despite her intent to let her affections for Alison run rampant tonight, the reminder of Alison's deceit and manipulation squealed her blind enjoyment to a halt. Her fingers drew chunks of her sheets into her palms. Thinking of the person Alison used to be brought nothing but pain coupled with disappointment. How could she have allowed herself to be so easily mislead? How could she have loved someone who treated her so poorly?

"Em, don't," Alison squatted down in front of her friend and calmly pulled her fingers from their iron fisted form. "I know what you're thinking about." Even after Ali freed the sheets from her friend's clutches, the frown and crinkled lines remained etched into the brunette's mouth and forehead. Since she had returned, she sometimes revived her old Alison attitude while with the entire group of liars. However, her old self consistently withered at Emily's feet when they were alone. She didn't recognize herself. Studying Emily's features plagued with ambivalence frightened the blonde. She had so much to atone for and she feared the past might be too much for Emily to ever overcome.

Although her instincts urged her to kiss away Emily's doubts, her friend had made it abundantly clear that mere physical affection couldn't earn her forgiveness. Tentatively, she settled an unsteady hand on the girl's right thigh. When Emily didn't flinch or swat away her hand, Ali swallowed and hesitantly whispered, "I don't know how to make this right." She continued with her familiar nervous tone that sometimes threw her pitch up and down, "I don't know if you want me to make this right. I mean—if you want me to make it right so there can be an us."

Shaken from her world of worry, Emily immediately covered the blonde's shaking hand with her own. The girl's vulnerable orbs of blue begged for some sort of answer offering reassurance. She slowly rose to her feet and guided Alison upward by one hand. When they stood face to face, she admitted the uncomfortable truth, "I don't know either." Alison didn't like that answer, but instead of the flabbergasted face of disgust she used to wear when she didn't get her way, a vulnerable frown drooped across her lips.

Through trembling lips, Ali pleaded softly, "Don't give up on me. I'm trying."

While Emily thought Alison's new softer personality reflected a movement away from her cold and calculating nature, she didn't want the old Alison to disappear into and overly apologetic mess. Comforting her with all the love she tried to temper, she nudged the blonde's chin upward with one finger and leaned in for a kiss.

Obviously pleased with Emily's solution, Alison's right hand flew to the side of Emily's face and her fingers slid under the brown locks. Their pursed lips met with a harsh, but passionate bump. Alison's lips quickly parted and she snagged the brunette's bottom lip. Although not one to instantly invite her tongue into a kiss, her mouth opened slightly wider and her tongue darted out and brushed against Emily's bottom lip.

Emily shared the blonde's urgency and she tilted her head to the side to allow for a more heated kiss. When their tongues briefly touched, she felt a sharp inhale against her skin and couldn't help but notice the now tight grip behind her head. Alison pulled her close while simultaneously pushing her head back with the force of her kiss. The short, but forceful nips of her lips and dives of her tongue dripped with passion, but the brunette also sensed a hint of fear behind Alison's physical, intimate need. For some reason, Emily found the blonde's uncertainty a bit entertaining. The old Ali never doubted her ability to completely enthrall a person she chose to grace with her affections.

A chuckle slipped from the brunette's throat. "Ali," she whispered.

Determined not to be dismissed, Alison simply ordered, "Shut up." Her left hand clamped around Emily's waist as she vigorously kissed her oddly amused friend.

Between kisses, Emily managed, "Ali, I'm. Not. Going. Anywhere." The unfamiliar insistent kisses only encouraged her giggles. What a switch. Emily finally knew how it felt to be desperately needed by Alison. The former "It Girl" of Rosewood High needed another human being.

The blonde groaned with annoyance and finally leaned back to say, "What is so funny?"

Deflating the irritation in Alison's eyes, Emily pecked the girl on the nose and explained, "I'm just not used to this. Who knew you wanted so badly to get inside me?"

Alison's eyes swelled to twice their normal size and her jaw dropped.

"I mean with your tongue," Emily corrected quickly.

Now the blonde's pupils dilated.

"I mean your tongue inside my mouth!" the flustered girl stressed. Holy shit! That did not just happen. She and Alison had never mentioned or even flirted in an overtly sexual manner. Their romantic interactions had been chaste and focused on emotions rather than desires.

Recovering quickly, Alison smirked and commented, "Talk about a Freudian slip."

Put at ease, but still embarrassed, the brunette returned, "I really meant shove your tongue down my throat."

"That is so not what you said," the other girl teased before planting one last kiss on Emily's lips.

"Interestingly," Emily cleared her throat, "Hanna and I might be squabbling because of this." She flapped a finger back and forth between the two of them.

"Because of us? Really?"

"Yeah," Emily proceeded cautiously while playing with Alison's fingers, "This could really change the dynamic. Not to mention her… hesitance considering our history."

"You mean her completely lack of faith in me and assuming I'll be a complete bitch to you again?" Alison queried flatly. "It's understandable."

Not wanting to openly admit her own insecurities, Emily shrugged, "It's just going to be different for all of us. We'll get through it."

With a huge grin and sigh of contentment, Alison said, "I missed you so much." She treasured the girl's hopeful outlook.

"Speaking of the girls," Emily strolled to her bedroom door, "I should probably assume my duties as hostess while Mom is cleaning up after all of us."

"I wonder what Hanna is thinking about us," Alison joked as she waltzed through the door Emily opened for her.

"Oh, I'm sure she's downstairs begging her brain to stop with the visuals."

Grabbing Emily's hand, the other girl yanked her close and said, "Should we try to live up to those visuals?"

The brunette pulled her closer until the space between their bodies disappeared. She teased an inch from Alison's lips, "No. We'll do better."

"What's happened to the innocent Emily Fields?" Alison leaned back and stared at Emily's smirking lips.

Nudging the blonde's warm body away from her own, the brunette replied, "She's been corrupted."

"Is it bad that I'm really glad about that?"

"I'm thinking no," Emily invaded her friend's personal space and continued their playful banter. While they teased and flirted, their three friends were engaged in a less that amicable conversation on Emily's front porch.

"What the hell was that crap you pulled at dinner, Hanna?" Spencer finally brought up the borderline aggressive conversation at the dinner table.

"What?" the blonde replied nonchalantly. She'd rather keep her frustration with Emily and Alison to herself. However, she did admit that her behavior didn't reflect her intentions.

"Since when do you defend Paige?" Aria said. Although she had noticed the interaction between Emily and Alison, she couldn't fathom why it would result in Hanna jumping on the Paige bandwagon.

Hanna folded her arms and shrugged, "She's nice. She really is good for Emily. Plus," Hanna continued randomly, "I like her clothes. She wears plaid and denim and vests and sometimes denim vests and—"

"She wears normal person clothes, Hanna," Spencer replied.

"Well," the blonde insisted, "I like them and her… as a person."

Not convinced, Spencer scoffed, "I had no idea you liked her so much. It's almost unbelievable."

"What can I say? I'm a Paily fan."

"Really, Hanna?" Spencer rolled her eyes. "Did you just say that?"

Throwing up her arms, Aria ignored Hanna's very weird choice of words and brought up the real problem with Paige, "Have you already forgotten why Emily broke up with her?"

"You remember that horrible thing she did?" Spencer pushed.

"She named names! She's helping now!"

Aria countered, "So she gets a free pass for basically turning Ali in to the police?"

"It's all of a sudden not an issue that she could have gotten Ali killed?" Spencer shouted.

"Guys!" Emily snapped from the doorway.

Alison stood next to her with a stunned look on her face. She hadn't heard the entire conversation, but the last few sentences were enough to shake her. "Paige. She. She did what?" she stuttered.

"Nothing!" Emily returned. "It's not important." She joined the three squabbling girls a few yards away and shook her head vehemently, hoping they would keep their mouths shut.

"That sounds really important," Alison raced to her side. "It sounds like Paige almost got me killed."

"She did a stupid thing," Hanna insisted, now blindly defending a girl she previously despised. "But now she's willing to rat on Lucas and Melissa and then she gets a rat in her locker."

"Again," Spencer continued, "Why should that magically earn Emily's forgiveness after what she did?"

"If Emily can forgive Ali, she can definitely give Paige a break," Hanna spat. Although tainted by her own issues with Alison's return, the blonde really did worry about Emily. She couldn't stand by and watch Alison hurt Emily all over again.

Momentarily derailed from Paige's betrayal, Aria threw out a question to the entire group, "Okay. What is this really about?" When Hanna shot an annoyed look toward Ali and Emily, who both seemed suddenly enthralled with the floor, she prodded, "Seriously, what's going on?" She figured she knew the answer, but Hanna's outright attack puzzled her. She wasn't going to let this go. "Han. What's going on?"

Spencer was the one to speak, "Guys. We all know that secrets do more harm than good." Alison glanced up and nodded her head in agreement. The brunette prompted Hanna, "Just tell us what the problem is."

"I'm just trying to throw some ice down their pants," she flung a finger toward Emily and Alison. When she noticed their dresses, she corrected herself, "Or their dresses or whatever. This is not a good idea and someone needs to say it." When no one spoke up, not even the two accused girls, she groaned, "This is bullshit. I'm so not the bad guy here."

Somewhat amused by Hanna's stubbornness, Spencer chuckled, "Well, you're definitely not presenting yourself as the good guy." The fact that this all boiled down to Hanna's concern for a friend lessened the brunettes's desire to be confrontational. She was worried about Emily too.

"I understand," Alison piped up. "You guys saved me, but that doesn't mean you trust me." Her words were met with complete silence. It didn't surprise her that Emily remained quiet as well. "Just give me a chance," the blonde finally pleaded.

"Hey, Emily," a voice came from Emily's front lawn. Everyone recognized the voice instantly and both Spencer and Hanna stifled laughs with their palms. This night couldn't possibly get any better.

"Paige!" Emily swung around with surprise to see her ex walking up the steps.

"Can we talk?"

Not glancing at anyone for permission to cut the conversation short, she confidently replied, "Yeah, sure."

So I lied unintentionally. There are going to be three parts. I can't pass up a little more drama. I'm sure y'all are okay with that.